Google Glass Sessions teach us why we need augmented reality

Google knows that it’ll take some education before we’re all wearing Google Glass headsets, and so the company has kicked off what it’s called Glass Sessions: slices of real life augmented with Glass. First up is persistent video and camera functionality from the perspective of a parent, with Glass being used to capture fleeting moments and share milestones across continents. Check out the video after the cut.

Laetitia Gayno, the mom in the video, is the wife of a Google employee, and shows how she uses Glass to snap photos of her baby without the camera getting in the way. Meanwhile, she can use Google+ Hangouts for group video calls with her family back in France.

Google’s focus with Glass has, in public demonstrations at least, been concentrated on the photography elements of the wearable. That’s arguably the easiest thing to show off; without seeing what it’s actually like to have a small virtual display “hovering” just above your normal line of vision, justifying the value of Glass’ other mediated reality abilities is considerably trickier.

Last week, Google began taking preorders for Google Glass Explorer Edition, the first generation of developer devices, which are expected to begin shipping in early 2013. Priced at $1,500 – though with the expectation that the consumer product will be considerably cheaper – they’ll give developers the opportunity to experiment with bringing their apps to persistently-connected users.